


Slow and Steady

by edenofalltrades



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Non-Explicit Sex, Post-TLJ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 22:00:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13690674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenofalltrades/pseuds/edenofalltrades
Summary: Growing up on Jakku, there wasn’t a lot Rey could trust in. But ever since she joined the Resistance, and met a certain X-wing pilot, things were starting to look up. Based on the prompt “A likes to rest their head on B’s chest because they like the sound of their heartbeat.”





	Slow and Steady

**Author's Note:**

  * For [niux](https://archiveofourown.org/users/niux/gifts), [Darnaguen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darnaguen/gifts), [Aurora82Borealis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurora82Borealis/gifts).



> This is my first ever attempt at writing Star Wars fanfic, I truly hope you guys like it! It was originally meant to be a Valentine's Day gift for everyone in the Damerey fandom but also specifically to some truly amazing people who made me feel welcome when I first joined this fandom but seeing as how it's going up slightly after Valentine's Day... Happy Cheap Chocolate Day!
> 
> As always, thank you to my beta readers, taidine and KD, for your support, patience, and willingness to have extremely weird conversations with me at all hours of the day.

Growing up on Jakku, there wasn’t a lot Rey could trust in.

She couldn’t trust in her parents coming back. Though that didn’t stop her from hoping they would. 

She couldn’t always trust that Unkar Plutt would give her a fair amount of portions for the hauls she would scavenge. Though that didn’t stop her from arguing and reminding him just who his best scavenger was. 

She couldn’t always trust that some of the other scavengers wouldn’t try to take advantage of her size. But she could always trust her quarterstaff to set them right if need be. 

But when she joined the Resistance, she found more than she ever could have had on the desert wasteland she called home all the years before. 

In Finn, she found her first true friend. Someone she could trust without hesitation. 

In Han Solo, she found a father figure. Someone she wished she could have had more time with. 

In Chewbacca, she found a co-pilot. Someone who had her back no matter the situation.

In Leia Organa, she found wisdom. Someone she could look up to.

In Luke Skywalker, she found a mentor. However brief his lessons were. 

In Rose Tico, she found a light. Someone that offered hope on even the darkest days.

And in Poe Dameron, she found more than she ever could have dreamed of. 

He was a comforting presence after Crait when she couldn’t sleep, haunted by the Force-bond she recently shared with Kylo Ren. When he spotted her wandering outsider her quarters late at night, Rey became instantly nervous, intimidated by his rank and stature. Instead, he made her a hot chocolate, and in a quiet part of the mess hall, listened as she told him about Snoke’s manipulation and how Kylo tried to probe her mind. Poe ran his fingers over the back of her hand as he confided that Ren had used the tactic on him as well, his voice low and sad but laced with the promise of a better future.

Rey and Poe continued meeting at night, away from the prying eyes of their friends. They bonded over stories of their childhood, of flying, of things they dared not share with anyone else. Learning what made the other one tick. The first time he kissed her was after she told him about the pilot’s helmet she found when she was ten, and how she imagined going on adventures with the captain it belonged to. It was short and impossibly soft, a brush of his lips on hers before pulling back and mumbling an apology. Rey bit her lip and leaned forward, kissed him back in a way that let him know that there was nothing to be sorry about. 

They eventually moved their nighttime meetings to their quarters, usually Poe’s, as having a higher rank meant having a slightly bigger room. Talking in bed meant the conversations could go on for longer, free from the pressures of having to keep up appearances and nurse drinks. It also gave rise to Rey’s new favorite pastime - laying in Poe’s arm’s with her head on his chest as she listened to his steady heartbeat. 

For most of her life, Rey loathed physical contact. Arms encircling her meant someone was trying to trap her or steal her haul. With Poe, it was different. Every time they laid in bed together she felt a warmth emanating from him that was intoxicating. Coupled with the steady metronome of his heart, Rey found she slept more soundly than she ever had.

The first time they made love was when he got back from a mission that had him away for a week. Or, at least that’s the term Kaydel always used to refer to what they did. Back on Jakku, Rey often heard some of the other scavengers use terms like screwing or fucking, but with no actual experience on the topic, Rey wasn’t sure what was most accurate. So she didn’t try. Instead, she focused on the sensation of his beard as the coarse hair rubbed against her sensitive skin, on his mouth as it left a trail of searing kisses down her neck, on his hands as they applied pressure in all the right places to make her moan against his sweat-drenched shoulder. When he held her afterward, breath coming out as heavy panting, his heart was hammering against his ribcage and Rey found she liked that as well.

Rey professed her love for him eight months after their first late night chat, almost to the day. 

They were basking in the afterglow, a term Poe taught her, when the words slip out of her mouth. “I think I love you?”

Poe’s hands stilled where they were moving up and down her arm, prompting Rey’s realization that her confession came out as a question. Totally mortified, she wished then for the floor of the room to hollow out and magically drop her back on Jakku, or that at least she could have slinked away undetected to her room. Barring both options she settled for burrowing her face in Poe’s chest with the hope that he would take pity on her and forget the whole thing ever happened.

Rey only looked up when she felt a low rumbling emanating through Poe’s chest and she realized he was chuckling. 

“You THINK you love me?” He had a wider grin than she’d ever seen on anyone. “That does wonders for a man’s ego, sunshine.”

“No, I…” Rey huffed as she pulled herself up so she’s inches away from his face. “I do love you, this is all just new to me…”

Poe kisses her before she can even finish her sentence, carding his hand through her hair.  
“Relax, I know what you meant. And for the record, I love you, too,” he caressed her as he spoke. “I’ve known since the day the mess hall ran out of hot chocolate by the time we got there and we had to drink that disgusting Tarine tea.”

“I’d prefer never to think about that foul beverage, thank you,” Rey frowned. “Wait, Tarine tea… that happened a week after we started meeting up at night. Have you really been in love with me since then?”

“I have,” Poe confirmed as he slid his hand down to cup Rey’s shoulder. “I heard stories about you from Finn and BB-8, about how amazing you were, but actually spending time with you showed me that you truly were one of the most special people I could ever hope to meet. I mean, kriff, I could tell that every sip of that tea was worse than the last for you and yet you still drank the entire thing, just to have an excuse to sit with me. I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing that.”

It was around four months later, exactly a year since he found her wandering around at night and offered her comfort by way of hot chocolate and conversation, that Poe gave Rey his mother’s ring. 

“She would have liked you,” he said as he slid the ring from the chain it had been on most of his life and onto her finger. “She would have wanted you to have this.”

Rey surged forward and kissed him. No matter what the future would bring, be it from the First Order or any other threat, Rey knew she would be able to face it with Poe and the rest of the Resistance by her side. 

Not too bad for a lost little girl from Jakku.


End file.
